Kats to open week with Senior Night
10/29/2018 6:30:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Matches 25-27
Tuesday, Oct. 30 • 6:30 p.m. • Huntsville • Johnson Coliseum
Sam Houston State (19-5, 11-1 SLC) vs New Orleans (11-16, 5-7 Southland)
Live Stats • ESPN+ • @BearkatsVB on Twitter
Thursday, Nov. 1 • 6:30 p.m. • Nacogdoches • Shelton Gym
Sam Houston State (19-5, 11-1 SLC) at Stephen F. Austin (25-2, 12-0 Southland)
Live Stats • ESPN+ • @BearkatsVB on Twitter
Saturday, Nov. 3 • 12:00 p.m. • Conway, Ark. • Prince Center
Sam Houston State (19-5, 11-1 SLC) at Central Arkansas (20-5, 10-2 Southland)
Live Stats • Live Video • @BearkatsVB on Twitter
HUNTSVILLE – With the Southland Conference race coming down to the final weeks of the regular season, the Sam Houston State Bearkats are squarely in the thick of the hunt for the league title. But to get there they will have to navigate a difficult four-match stretch to end the season, beginning Tuesday night in the home finale against New Orleans. Coach Brenda Gray's squad, who currently ranks second in the league standings, will then close out the regular season with three consecutive road matches against teams ranked in the SLC's top four.
The most intriguing date on that list is Thursday at league-leading Stephen F. Austin, and if the Kats get past the Privateers on Tuesday in Huntsville, Thursday's trip to Shelton Gym would carry an opportunity to move into first place in the Southland.
Matches against both New Orleans and Stephen F. Austin can be viewed on ESPN+ and the ESPN app, while Saturday's match at Central Arkansas will also have a live stream on UCASports.com. Live stats will be available for each match and fans can also get updates as they happen by following @BearkatsVB on Twitter.
Tuesday's match vs UNO will be the final match in Huntsville for Sam Houston's senior class of Taylor Cunningham, Madison Wallace and Jaclyn Ward. Each member of the class will be honored following the match.
KATS CARRYING ON QUICK START
The Kats have just kept on winning this season, and now find themselves on the verge of the program's first 20-win season since 2012. Sam Houston has won eight matches in a row going into Tuesday's match vs UNO and with a win would move to 20-5, marking the quickest the Kats have reached the 20-win mark since the 1993 team did it in just 24 matches.
GRAY APPROACHING 700 MILETONE
Not only is the end of the 2018 season quickly approaching, but Bearkat head coach Brenda Gray is also quickly approaching another milestone in her 35th year at the helm. Gray opens up this week with 696 career victories and if SHSU was to win its final 4 matches of the regular season, not only would the Kats clinch at least a share of the league title, but Gray would also reach 700 career victories. There are only 32 Division I coaches in the nation who have ever reached 700 career wins, 10 of whom are active head coaches.
WALLACE FINDING HER PLACE
There has been no bigger change this season for Coach Brenda Gray and her staff than when they moved senior Madison Wallace to libero before the Kats took on Chicago State on Sept. 8 in Atlanta. Since then the Bearkats have gone 15-1 overall and Wallace has averaged 5.43 digs per set in that time.
WALLACE NAMED SLC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR SECOND TIME
Wallace's stellar play has also earned her recognition from those across the Southland, and on Monday she was named the SLC's Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this year. It came after she went for 38 and 37 digs in consecutive road matches against A&M-Corpus Christi and Houston Baptist. Those were the third and fifth most digs in a single match by an SLC player this year, and each ranked in the top six all-time at SHSU.
CUNNINGHAM PROVING TO BE ONE OF THE SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE'S BEST
The Bearkats had high hopes for Taylor Cunningham in 2018, and this season she is exceeding those expectations. She made the all-tournament team at all four events prior to the start of league play and is taking full advantage of playing all six rotations for the first time in her career.
She has been named the SLC Player of the Week six times this season and earlier this season she became the 23rd player in Bearkat history to surpass 1,000 career kills. Cunningham is still climbing that list, in addition to ranking seventh all-time in total blocks at SHSU. She is averaging 4.53 kills per set in SLC play, which is more than half a kill per set more than any other player in the league.
OUTDIGGING THE COMPETITION
With Wallace leading the way, Sam Houston has been one of the top defensive teams in the nation thru four weeks of the 2018 season. As a team the Kats are averaging 17.7 digs per set, a mark which leads the Southland and also ranks 17th among all teams in the country. That high dig rate has also played a key part in Sam Houston holding its opponents to just .150 hitting, another mark that leads the SLC and also ranks eighth in the nation. Only 5 of SHSU's 24 opponents have manage to hit above .200 against the Kats this season.
FRESHMAN IMPACT
Brenda Gray and her staff knew it would be imperative to add another offensive threat this year, and seem to have found just what they were looking for in freshman right side Breanne Chausse. She has quickly found a home on the Bearkat front line and is second on the team with 2.44 kills per set while hitting at a .203 clip.
